The Philadelphia Flyers deserve credit for a successful weekend

Against a pair of difficult opponents on the road, the Philadelphia Flyers got the job done with a pair of shootout victories this weekend.

If you told me that the Philadelphia Flyers would earn consecutive road shootout wins against quality opponents on back-to-back nights, I would never believe you.

I’ve seen how this team performs in the shootout for far too long. And this is still the Flyers we’re talking about.

But maybe things are different this time. Maybe this team is just better than anything we’ve seen on the ice in this town for a while.

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When it comes to this weekend, the Flyers did it the hard way. But they did it nonetheless.

Earning the full four points in shootout victories over the Toronto Maple Leafs and Boston Bruins, the Flyers boosted their record to 10-5-2 on the year. That’s actually…very good. Are we sure that’s right?

I am happy to report that it is.

Aside from the mildly disturbing fact that the Flyers had a 2-0 lead in both games this weekend and were unable to hold things down in regulation before ultimately prevailing after the extra session, these wins should be savored by the team and fanbase alike.

On Saturday night in Toronto, the Flyers matched a high-powered Leafs team blow for blow all game long. They held on for dear life in the overtime before Sean Couturier eventually put home the game-winner in the shootout.

Brian Elliott‘s performance, in particular, stands out, as he stopped 38 of 40 shots. He has given the Flyers just about all that they could have expected so far. It’s truly encouraging that it looks like the team can rely on him to give them a quality start when they absolutely him to, as is the case when the team finds itself playing on consecutive days.

On Sunday, when it was perhaps reasonable to expect the Flyers to look tired after traveling to Boston, they had the better of the play for much of the game. Philippe Myers scored again, his third consecutive game with a goal, and looks as though he is quickly becoming a stalwart on the blueline.

The Flyers did an excellent job to bottle up the Bruins for two periods, as they allowed a measly ten shots on goal through the first forty minutes of play. And while it’s a shame that Boston took it to them in the third period to tie the game, Carter Hart has to be given a ton of credit for keeping this from becoming a regulation loss.

Yes, Boston managed a pair of goals. But Hart stoned David Pastrnak, the league’s leading scorer, on a penalty shot in addition coming up with several other big stops just to get the game to overtime.

Once the Flyers were headed to yet another shootout, I figured there was no way they could pull it off again. Yet “Philly” Joel Farabee tallied the lone goal, and Hart made it stand up.

Ivan Provorov should also be commended for his strong work on the night, logging over 27 minutes against some of the stiffest competition around. And this was after having played over 25 minutes the previous night. Contributions like his can become easy to overlook, but they shouldn’t be.

Just about the only thing that a Flyers fan should be concerned about after the weekend was the conspicuous absence of Claude Giroux and Jakub Voracek. Neither managed a point in the two games, although Giroux did score in the shootout versus Toronto.

It’s worth monitoring how the team’s two supposed “best offensive players” perform in the coming games. It’s heartening to know that the team can win games and build a solid record even when they aren’t shooting the lights out, but they’ll need to turn it on eventually.

All in all, however, we should be exceedingly happy with a 10-5-2 record at this point. Over 20 percent of the NHL regular season is in the books, and the Flyers have managed to avoid the deep hole that they seemingly dig for themselves every year. And they’re doing it with contributions from all over the lineup.

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I’m not saying that we should start viewing them as a true contender just yet. But if a Flyers team can win back-to-back road shootouts on consecutive nights, maybe anything is possible.

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